UPDATE \u2013 12 Oct: It looks like Blizzard employees have no doubt made it clear the merges will be mandatory starting next month. Players on North American servers will need to merge their accounts before 11th November, and players on EU servers will need to merge their accounts before 12th November if they have not done so already. The threads are located here (US) and here (EU).\r\rWe all know this day was coming, but we didn't know exactly when it would happen until now: You will need to merge your WoW account in order to access it before November 11th\/12th, or else your account will be inaccessible. This report came directly from Boubouille on MMO-Champion, and the source came directly from EU Blizzard's Battle.net FAQ.\r\rThe quoted FAQ and article come right after the break!

"Get 'yer Gadgetzan Times! Get yer' new Times! Fresh out of the Federkiel des gnomischen Magicus! Only ! Get it while it's hot!"\rGet 'yer own copy!\rThat's right! The new issue of the Times has been released, and here's what Nethaera has to say about it:\rBrought to you straight from a printing press deep in the frozen hills of Icecrown, the new edition of the Gadgetzan Times has hit the stands and is packed full of Azerothian goodness. In this issue: \rYou No Take Candle!: A new kobold poem that is all the rage\rThe Airstrip: A tale of a warlock down on his luck, but seeking new frontiers in Northrend\rThe Heart of Battle: A priest wins the day in the hotly contested Warsong Gulch\rNew Holiday-Themed Crossword Puzzle\rFresh classifieds hot off the presses\rHoliday calendar\r\rHave a tale to tell or need to get the word out in a classified ad? Submit your stories and new classifieds here. \r\r\rIf you wish to read the new edition, go here!

For Gnomeregaaan!There have been many jokes about the gnomes not being able to take their capital Gnomeregan back, despite the fact that there are quite a few gnome NPCs with level and gear sufficient enough to obliterate every single trogg and leper gnome in immediate proximity. Well, we may get to see the end of those jokes in Cataclysm! Some two weeks ago "PC Gamer" magazine revealed some new information about the upcoming expansion, but it seems like one of the things was majorly overlooked: a hint that gnomes might be going back home!\r\rHere's what the short caption on the image reads:\rAfter 5 years of players purging Gnomeregan of its irradiated inhabitants, Gnomes may finally be able to reclaim their home as a new capital city for Alliance... until they mess it up again.\r\rWithout jumping to conclusions, it is highly probable (in my opinion at least) that Gnomeregan will be introduced in Cataclysm. Whether it is going to be there at launch, or players will go through a series of phasing quests to "purge" the place for good is of little relevance. The only problem is that we may very well get our super excited little fr

Update! Blizzard has been taking user feedback into consideration and has made changes to some set bonuses. We will stay on top of these updates as they are posted! :)\r\rI'm sure many of you guys noticed Blizzard's Tier 10 Sneak Peek that we blogged about earlier this afternoon, in which Blizzard showed off some of the new class tier armor designs and proved to us, yet again, that the person responsible for designing leather helms is a nutjob (just kidding!).\r\rThey have since elaborated on this information by releasing the Tier 10 set bonuses, which have been released for each class' respective item sets. Blizzard is requesting that users (especially those currently testing on the PTR) provide them with any feedback, as these items will soon be available on the PTR for additional testing. Theorycrafters, hardcore raiders, and casuals alike are all given their chance to get their ideas thrown out there! \r\r

The updates are coming fast and furious, and I'm working on another post for later today, so I'm just going to take a moment to copy\/paste this update from our friends at ZAM.com:\r\rThose of you on the public test realms may notice that Blizzard has made some changes to the way creature and character nameplates are displayed in World of Warcraft. Zarhym actually outlined these updates on the official PTR forum and is asking for feedback. Here's the list of changes straight from the blue post:\r\rThe range at which you can see the nameplates is now much longer.\rYou can no longer see the nameplates through objects which block line of sight.\rInstead of the nameplates trying to sort themselves, they just overlap. We think this makes them more useful for very large groups (example: Onyxia whelps).\r\rHave you noticed these changes on the PTR? What do you think of them in PvE and PvP?\r\rEdit: Some clarification has been added on the official forums:\r\r\r\rAs long as you are able to peer into the doorway of a room, you will see nameplates of players

Now this is interesting. It makes sense that these two characters should be the first to appear on any sort of "Character Bios" list, since they're the ones who are going to be helping us bring down Arthas in 3.3\u2014but I sincerely hope they fill these two out with more bios for the other characters.\r\rThe official link on the WoW Europe site is here, though I imagine it'll be up on the US site before long.\r\rOr, as always, you can read the text here after the break. :)

This is the Warrior set.Man, you look away for a second, and Blizzard releases a T10 armor preview on the official site!\r\rOnly Death Knights, Druids, Hunters and Warriors so far, but still...looking very good. Be sure to check the high resolution images, because they often show them from different angles.\r\rAs the threats within Icecrown Citadel continue to take shape, so do the rewards for the brave souls who seek to face them. We\u2019ve just released a first look at some of the new tier-10 armor sets that will be available to intrepid adventurers upon the release of the Icecrown Citadel raid dungeon. The preview contains all of the sets that we\u2019ve completed so far, and you can click an image to see each set from different angles. We\u2019ll add more classes\u2019 sets as we continue to develop and polish them, so be sure to check back for updates.\r\rSource: http:\/\/www.worldofwarcraft.com\/info\/underdev\/3p3\/tier10sneak.html

That's right, there's a new build on the PTR, and as such there are new icons!\r\rBunch of good ones this time, including some updated versions of some common old favorites. Check them out!\r\rWe found 35 new icons in the current PTR build.\r\r

Patch Time!We've updated the Patch Notes with new info!\r\rAll of the new data has been conveniently marked with a "New! (10\/7):" flag, and the top has a section for the last date it was updated. Looks like a new PTR Build on the horizon, so stay tuned for more dataz!\r\rHaste Rating and DoTS\/HoTs\rIn other news, casters may be interested in this post from Ghostcrawler, which discusses proposed changes to DoTs, HoTs, and haste rating. They're talking about a system which actually lets the spells tick faster\u2014and are considering testing the technology out on , , and . None of this is confirmed yet, it's just something they're testing\u2014but still very interesting to explore the way things work over there.\r\rLinks\r\rNew Patch Notes: http:\/\/www.wowhead.com\/?patchnotes=3.3.0-ptr\rBlue Post: http:\/\/forums.worldofwarcraft.com\/thread.html?topicId=20143783048&sid=1&pageNo=1#0

Oh man, this is going to be SO AWESOME.The official World of Warcraft website has released some details on the Icecrown Citadel Raid!\r\rFrom the sound of it, the Knights of the Ebon Blade and the Argent Crusade have joined forces to create a new faction called the Ashen Verdict, which will storm the Frozen Throne together\u2014with the help of Highlord Tirion Fordring, High Overlord Saurfang (the Elder), Muradin Bronzebeard, Highlord Darion Mograine, King Varian Wrynn, and YOU.\r\rThe item levels are listed as 251 for 10-man normal, 265 for 25-man normal and 10-man heroic, and 277 for 25-man heroic. We've also got a bunch of screenshots of the new artwork, and a description of the individual wings. Go check it out on the official site, or join us for the full text after the break!

The PTR Site is up!\r\rThat means you can check out the Latest Additions page for a list of all the new spells and info we've added for 3.3, and watch it update! You can even subscribe to the RSS feed for instant updates\u2014Just click the "Subscribe" button on the top right.\r\rNeedless to say, our PTR Talent Calculator is also up and ready. Enjoy!\r\rRemember: We need your dataz! Everyone who's playing on the PTR needs to change the settings on their Wowhead Client so that they're sending us PTR data! For a quick walkthrough on how to do so, see this post.